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This September: Original Unaltered Trilogy on DVD
May 03, 2006

Fans can look forward to a September filled with classic Star Wars nostalgia, led by the premiere of LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy video game and the long-awaited DVD release of the original theatrical incarnations of the classic Star Wars trilogy.
In response to overwhelming demand, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release attractively priced individual two-disc releases of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Each release includes the 2004 digitally remastered version of the movie, as well as the original theatrical edition of the film. That means you'll be able to enjoy Star Wars as it first appeared in 1977, Empire in 1980, and Jedi in 1983.

See the title crawl to Star Wars before it was known as Episode IV; see the pioneering, if dated, motion control model work on the attack on the Death Star; groove to Lapti Nek or the Ewok Celebration song like you did when you were a kid; and yes, see Han Solo shoot first.

I listened to Gabriel with increasing disbelief. I'd heard, as I think everyone did, that the original - by which I mean the original original - Star Wars trilogy was coming to DVD. What I had not heard, and what Gabriel intimated to me with his eyes wide was that these would not be from the scrubbed, manicured footage they used to make the re-imaginings, they would, in fact, be anamorphic ripsfrom old laserdiscs. What's more, they can't even be purchased separately. They can only be purchased with the newer versions, together, for ninety dollars! Ha!

Clearly, the original trilogy can't be put in a position where it can outsell the new one - that's just not going to happen, so those two things must be in a statistically coherent package. But as to why the original movies can't even be seen in their original format, it's actually been claimed that George Lucas (in a manner of speaking) "taped over" the classic trilogy. That terminology was a little too good to pass up. There are good shepherds of that beloved context, but they toil in the long shadow of a dark obelisk.